A major contribution to the wind discography.

Any serious collector of wind ensemble music will be excited by this disc that offers the opportunity to hear a set of works that are probably unfamiliar to most of you; no Lincolnshire Posey this time! It's hard to believe that the modern wind ensemble of the kind that commissions and performs contemporary works has been around for barely sixty years. The tradition was started with the famed Eastman Wind Ensemble and now every major Conservatory and University probably has a performing group. Here's another: primarily made up of freshman and sophomores, New England Conservatory's Jordan Winds performs woodwind, brass and percussion repertoire from the Renaissance to the present day for octet to full wind ensemble. World premieres and important works that are sometimes neglected because of unusual instrumentation form an integral part of the group's Jordan Hall concerts. Under William Drury, the ensemble has given compelling performances of sophisticated contemporary music including Varese, Messiaen, Sapieyevski, Foss, Druckman, Burke, Schoenberg and Frank Zappa. Albany Records has made an ongoing commitment to this kind of music and we feel that this release is a major contribution to the wind discography!

Review:

"A program of terrific new works...This large band blends and plays beautifully in tune, impressive qualities for an ensemble consisting primarily of New England Conservatory freshmen and sophomores." (American Record Guide)